Sir Thomas Wyatt

My galley charged with forgetfulness
Thorough sharp seas in winter nights doth pass
'Tween rock and rock; and eke mine enemy, alas
That is my lord, steereth with cruelness;
And every oar a thought in readiness
As though that death were light in such a case.
An endless wind doth tear the sail apace
Of forced sighs and trusty fearfulness.
A rain of tears, a cloud of dark disdain
Hath done the wearied cords great hindrance,
Wreathed with error and eke with ignorance.
The stars be hid that led me to this pain
Drowned is reason that should me comfort
And I remain despairing of the port.

Footnotes

Sir Thomas Wyatt

Wyatt (1503-1542), travelled in Italy, where he found models
for much of his poetry. He spent a period in the Tower
because of an alleged involvement with
Anne
Boleyn.

Petrarch

One of the great voices of the early Renaissance, Francesco
Petrarch (1304-74) created the great sequence of sonnets to
his courtly love, Laura. By the
time Shakespeare was writing, the freshness and originality
of many of Petrarch's images had become clichés worthy
of ironical treatment, notably in his sonnets to the
Dark
Woman.

Petrarch's original (translated)

My ship laden with forgetfulness passes through a harsh
sea, at midnight, in winter, between Scylla and Charybdis,
and at the tiller sits my lord [i. e. his loved one],
rather my enemy;

each oar is manned by a ready, cruel thought that seems to
scorn the tempest and the end; a wet, changeless wind of
sighs, hopes, and desires breaks the sail;

a rain of weeping, a mist of disdain wet and loosen the
already weary ropes, made of error twisted up with
ignorance.

My two usual sweet stars are hidden; dead among the waves
are reason and skill; so that I begin to despair of the
port.
(Translated by Robert M. Durling; from Petrarch's Lyric
Poems Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1976.)

A lyric set to music

Set by his contemporary, William Cornyshe, Wyatt's lyric has
been set as a "catch," or round. The poem is a debate between
two common--and interconnected-- views of women. Click for
more on the battle of the sexes.